au TOM’S GR Supra takes Pole Position in the New Qualifying Format!

The official qualifying sessions for the opening round of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the “OKAYAMA GT 300km RACE,” was held on April 13 at the Okayama International Circuit (one lap 3.703 km) in Okayama Prefecture. From this year, the SUPER GT qualifying has been changed to a new Q1 and Q2 combined best time format. Under the new format, in the GT500 class the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra driver pair of Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita won pole position. In the GT300 class, the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG diver pair of Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara qualified 1st. With this result, these two teams will start from front position on their respective class starting grids in tomorrow’s final race on April 14.

On this day, the Okayama International Circuit was blessed with fine weather warm enough to bring a bit of sweating, and naturally the track surface was dry. In Q1, the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Kenta Yamashita) recorded a good lap time of 1’17.813 in the early stages, but in the final stages of the session the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo) ran a time of 1’17.489 to give the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 its first top time of the year. Behind this, the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Toshiki Oyu) and the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi) finished the session in 2nd and 3rd places with two drivers newly moved from the Honda teams. As for the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing affiliated drivers, Yamashita (No. 36) was the fastest in 5th place, some 0.3 sec. behind the top time.

However, in Q2 it was ace driver Sho Tsuboi in car No. 36 who mounted a valiant charge. Despite running his time attacks on the same set of tires that had been used in Q1, he recorded a time of 1’17.748 that was faster than Yamashita in Q1 to give the No. 36 pair a combined time of 2’35.561 to beat the field and give the team its first pole position since last season’s Round 3 at Suzuka. Also, finishing in 2nd position in the qualifying (based on combined times) was the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Yuichi Nakayama). The No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) finished in 3rd position to earn a spot for the Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT debuting this season just behind the champion TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 machines.

The GT300 class Q1 was run in two groups, A and B, divided based on last season’s rankings. In Group A, it was Yamauchi in the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) and in Group B it was Taira in the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira) that recorded the top times. Session Q2 was run in two groups, with the top eight finishers in the two Q1 groups, totaling 16 cars, running as Group 1, and the remaining cars running as Group 2. In the Q2 Group 1, it was Gamou in the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG who ran strongly to give the driver pair of Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara a combined time of 2'52.198 that gave the team its second straight class pole position at Okayama.

■Pole Position winner comments

[GT500] No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra Sho Tsuboi: “Honestly, I thought it was all over (when attitude of the car went wrong in flying lap in Q2) (wry smile). It was a mistake that should have made us lose pole position, so after that I was really upset. But the condition of the car was extremely good, and we had gotten good times in the morning practice, so I pulled myself together and was able to get a one fairly good time. And with our combined times, we also got pole position. So, it was the best result we could have hoped for.”

Kenta Yamashita: “We owe this (best combined time) to Tsuboi-san. It is tough running is Q1, (finishing in 5th position in Q1) I felt I had held the team back (wry smile). It was amazing the way (Tsuboi-san) recovered that 0.3 gap.”

[GT300] No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG Naoya Gamou: “(Despite running on the used tires in Q2) there didn’t seem to be much in terms of a loss in tire grip, so I was able to run with a good feeling. I’m glad that I was able to get a good time.”

Takuro Shinohara: “Until now, in Q1 I felt that it was enough to be able to qualify on to Q2, but this time I felt that I had to do my best to get a good time. So, this time I felt more pressure than before.”